Astro & Cora Pt 9
by aclovesyou
Summary: I think Cora and Astro have learned by now that nothing goes right when you think it will. I.E. Astro's no longer Astro.


When Cora woke up, she woke up to Zella's beaming face. Zella had pink, glittery sunglasses in her hair, and a green boa wrapped around her arms. "Hello!"

"W-what? It's so early." Cora blinked the sleep out of her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. I woke up at 5 and needed some coffee in my system." Zella drawled.

"Did you say hello to Astro?"

"Uhh… he wasn't there in his bed." Zella frowned, "So I left a love note on his bed and sealed it with a kiss. Extra red berry zinger. My favorite shade, you know." Zella bounced off of the bed.

Cora felt the alert lights go in her head. Astro wasn't there? "Well, where do you think he could've gone?"

"I don't know. Shopping maybe."

"Astro doesn't shop."

"He did last night." Zella pulled open one of the wardrobes in the room and shuffled through loads of dresses she had bought the night before.

"We can't go to Tenma without him, and we can't dilly dally here all day either!" Cora felt a rising sense of panic as she slipped out of bed.

Zella didn't answer. She ran into the bathroom with three dresses (all the same style, just different colors) and three shoes (again, the same style, different colors) and three sets of boas…

_Obsessive much? _Cora thought, raising an eyebrow.

Picking out her own outfit, Cora felt rather plain. A black spaghetti tank with the usual cargo jeans. Nothing fancy. Kinda her style.

_Where could he have gone… where could he have gone… _Cora mused. Then she stopped dead in her tracks. Halfway through brushing her hair.

"_When I fall asleep, I can't be woken up until 6:00 a.m. The time I'm programmed to." _Astro had said that last night, or something along those lines.

So if he wasn't there at five when Zella came in… but how? He couldn't have moved. Robots don't sleep walk, and, he can't be woken up…

Cora dropped the hair brush. She gasped. Stone! Stone had most likely taken Astro! She furrowed her brows and ran over to knock on the bathroom door.

"Zella! Astro's been kidnapped!" she cried.

Zella flung the door wide open. One eye completely dolled on with makeup. The other not. She looked crazy. "WHAT?"

"I have no time to explain why I think so." Cora told her, "We've got to get out of this hotel. Stone will be waiting for us somewhere."

"Right. Well I need to finish putting on my makeup…" Zella said hurriedly, turning back into the bathroom.

"We don't have any time! You can put it on during the car ride!" Cora yanked Zella's arm so that she tripped out of the bedroom.

"What about all these clothes?" She wailed.

"Astro's more important." Cora said evenly, looking into Zella's wide eyes.

"Oh… yeah. I almost forgot." She sounded extremely sincere. "So, by car, you mean taxi?" she flipped out a credit card. Pink this time. The other time it was purple.

Cora ran towards the door with Zella close behind her. The moment they were out of the hotel room, Cora tasted freedom. Then a big hand closed over her mouth and she felt a familiar sensation: a gun in her back.

Zella got the same treatment. From a taller, thinner man.

"Don't move girlies." A thick voice said. "Stone?"

"Ahh. Cora and Zella. We meet again." Stone's face was masked.

"You… you… you…" Zella kicked out at Stone, it hit him squarely in the stomach. But he didn't loosen his grip on her.

"Listen up, you two. No trouble. Astro's back at the headquarters. He's quite changed, when we take you to meet him, you'll see. Me and my friend here are both masked. So if you have any idea of screaming 'HELP!' I'd would prefer you'd rather not. We'd just shoot you." Stone hissed.

Zella gulped. Cora nodded.

The ride down the elevator was the longest ride Cora had ever experienced. Stone and the thug whispered like school boys. They laughed wickedly every now and then. Cora caught little blips of the conversation:

"Do you think…. And then in the arena…" Stone was saying.

"Oh yeah! Then we … Astro would…"

"Heh, heh. ….. His eyes… red. Pretty scary… killing machine… blast to pieces." Stone answered back.

Cora shuddered. She looked over to Zella. Zella was hastily applying makeup with her compact mirror. "Oh, oh, I can't be seen." she was muttering.

When the elevator opened, Stone rushed the girls out and around the back. From there they got into his car and flew to the summit of the Metro City mountain. Cora sighed. Home away from home.

Once as they were inside the head quarters of Stone, Cora felt her stomach rise and fall. Each corridor was familiar and eerie with memories. They passed some cells. Then they went through metal door.

As soon as they went through that metal door, beautiful piano music sounded from a room at the end of the hallway. "Moonlight Sonata?" Cora mumbled. It was breathtaking.

"Ah yes, Astro loves piano."

"No he doesn't!" Zella squeaked, "Once, on a TV interview, he and the host got into an argument about which was better: piano or guitar! And Astro said piano was a girl instrument and that he would NEVER play it!"

Stone sighed, "When you switch his brains around and jog new memories into him, things change."

"Oh… no." Cora whispered as the door opened. In the room, it was lush with luxury. Quite possibly Stone's office. Wedged in a corner was a grand piano. And playing it was Astro.

From the back, he looked entirely normal. Then he stopped playing and turned around. He smiled wickedly at the two girls. His pupils, usually that pure, brown, were red and fringed. His innocent look that Cora so admired, was replaced with pure hatred. Astro's mouth looked like it had only ever scowled.

Then he got up and turned to Stone, "When do I get to kill them?"

"Soon, soon be patient." Stone muttered.

"Astro… it's me… Cora." Cora hissed.

Astro snorted, "YOU? Heck, I don't know who you are."

"I'm Zella. You love me." Zella squiggled out of Stone's grip and ran towards Astro. Immediately Astro's left arm turned into a cannon.

"Stay back!" he hissed, "I don't love anyone."

_Poor, confused child. _Cora thought. She tried to kick that despairing feeling away with a comical outlook.

But something would send Cora right to the very pits of despair. It was what Astro said next. He walked over to Stone, faced him squarely in the eye, and said, "They're annoying me, Dad."


End file.
